Places You Didn’t Know Existed

We know all the famous landmarks in places like Paris, New York, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Sahara Desert–but the world is so much bigger than that. Let’s talk about all the places that you might’ve not even known were real.

8. The Door To Hell

Even if some of you don’t believe a place like hell really exists, we can at least tell you that a place called the Door To Hell is actually real. Door To Hello is the colloquial name for the Darvaza gas crater located in Turkmenistan. It measures to an area of 5,350 meters squared, now a rather big tourist attraction. The natural gas field was lit aflame during the 70s as a way to keep dangerous gases from flowing into nearby towns. It’s been burning ever since.

7. Schwerin Palace

In the northeastern region of Germany is the city of Schwerin, the capital of its state as as well as the second largest city there. Lakes enclose the city, making it appear as some sort of hidden land amongst the water. A notable landmark includes the Schwerin Palace, which looks more like a Disney castle than a real one. The palatial schloss sits on Lake Schwerin, dating all the way back to 973 AD.

6. Viñales Valley

When you think about it, how much do you really know about the geology of Cuba? Politics and history for sure, but the look of the landscape? For most people, probably not much. So here’s a few things to learn if you didn’t know already: let’s take a look at the Vinales Valley, a karstic depression that’s famous for growing tobacco and a variety of other crops while surrounded the Sierra de los Organos mountains.

5. Lake Retba

The salt content measured at Lake Retba reaches up to 40%, so here, you know you can float. Lake Retba, also called Lac Rose, formed just north of the Cap Vert peninsula in Senegal. The Dunaliella salina algae is what makes the waters here so pink, as if someone split pink lemonade into the water source. The algae develops this sort of red pigment to help it absorb light. Mix that with the water, and it looks pink. Dunes divide the lake from the Atlantic Ocean. A lot of people boat on this lake and fisherman even use the salt to preserve fish.

4. Saint Michel D’Aiguilhe

What’s different about this French chapel? It’s a French chapen close to the sky, that’s what. The Saint Michel D’Aiguilhe chapel was built sometime in 969 right over–get this–a volcanic plug. It’s also been said that Joan of Arc’s mother, Isabelle Romee would come to this area to pray. If she really did, then that means she climbed those 268 steps that were carved into the rock a lot of times. It sights about 279 feet high or 85 meters and was constructed as a tribute to the pilgrimage of Saint James.

3. Sagano Bamboo Forest

Right near the outskirts of Kyoto, Japan is a forest that looks out of this world. We may not think much of bamboo but if the Sagano Forest proves anything, there’s a lot to bamboo to think of. You can walk through the man-made path carved into the forest, which often gets packed with tourists. When it gets slightly windy, the bamboo wood knocks against each other, creating a wholly unique sound.

2. Atlantis

“That’s a fictional place!” someone cries. Well, kind of. The legend of Atlantis is just that, a legend–one that tells of an ancient city that has sunken into the sea, seemingly lost. Plato mentions the island in Timaeus and Critias, but was this place really…real? Not too long ago, archaeologists discovered the remains of Heracleion, a city that sunk into the Abu Qir Bay. It was once Crete’s largest city, leaving behind monuments, coins, and other structures that show just a glimpse of what this ancient Egyptian city must have been like.